Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/489

 GILLES DE RAIS. 473 illuminating his unearthly orgies, found such delirium of delight in inflicting and in watching human agony.* While such were his recreations, his serious pursuit was the search for the philosopher's stone — the Universal Elixir which should place unlimited wealth and power in his hands. To this end his agents were on the watch to bring him skilled professors in the art, and he served as the dupe of a succession of charlatans, whose promises kept him ever in the hope that he was on the point of attaining the fulfilment of his desires. He never ceased to believe that once, at his castle of Tiffauges, the operation was about to be crowned with success, when the sudden arrival of the Dauphin Louis forced him to destroy his furnaces ; for though, as we have seen, alchemy was not positively included in the prohib- ited arts, its practice was ground for suspicion, and Louis, even in his youth, was not one to whom he could afford to confide so dan- gerous a secret. This confident hope explains the recklessness of his expenditures and his careless alienations, in which he retained a right of redemption, for any morrow might see him placed be- yond the need of reckoning with his creditors. Yet, as already stated, although alchemy assumed to be a science, in practice it was almost universally coupled with necromancy, and few alche- mists pretended to be able to achieve results without the assistance of demons, whose invocation became a necessary department of their art. So it was with those employed by Gilles de Rais, and no more instructive chapter in the history of the frauds of magic can be found than in his confession and that of his chief magician, Francesco Prelati. The latter had a familiar demon named Bar- ron, whom he never had any difficulty in evoking when alone, but who would never show himself when Gilles was present, and in the naive accounts which the pair give of their attempts and fail- ures, one cannot help admiring the quick-witted ingenuity of the Italian and the facile credulity of the baron. On one occasion, in answer to Prelati's earnest prayer for gold, the tantalizing demon spread countless ingots around the room, but forbade his touching them for some days. When this was reported to Gilles he natu- rally desired to feast his eyes upon the treasure, and Prelati con- ducted him to the chamber. On opening the door, however, he
 * 1) Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. lxxxiv.-xcii., xcv.-xcix.